“The best ratings from Wall Street ratings firms and strong demand for Texas notes helped drive down the borrowing cost,” Combs said. “Buyers bid about $16.7 billion, more than twice the amount offered for sale. The competitive bids for today’s sale show that investors are very confident in the Texas economy and the direction it’s heading.”

Texas has sold annual TRANs since fiscal 1987. Money from TRAN sales is used to help fund expenditures such as public school payments early in the fiscal year and manage cash flow between the start of the fiscal year and the arrival of tax revenues later in the year.

The $7.2 billion in notes from today’s sale will be repaid on Aug. 28, 2014.